PowerShell vs. SQL vs. Specops Command vs. Visual Basic Comparison Chart

PowerShell is a cross-platform task automation and configuration management framework, consisting of a command-line shell and scripting language. Unlike most shells, which accept and return text, PowerShell is built on top of the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR), and accepts and returns .NET objects. This fundamental change brings entirely new tools and methods for automation. Unlike traditional command-line interfaces, PowerShell cmdlets are designed to deal with objects. An object is structured information that is more than just the string of characters appearing on the screen. Command output always carries extra information that you can use if you need it. If you've used text-processing tools to process data in the past, you'll find that they behave differently when used in PowerShell. In most cases, you don't need text-processing tools to extract specific information. You directly access portions of the data using standard PowerShell object syntax.

Specops Command combines Windows PowerShell and Group Policy and allows you to manage computers and users in your network. With Specops Command you can create PowerShell or VBScripts right inside your Group Policy Objects. This allows network administrators to execute scripts on specifically targeted systems while receiving feedback on the results. Manages feedback from the client computers and the database. Configures script assignments. Configures which Group Policy Objects receive script assignments. Specops Reporting is a separate product that can be used in combination with Specops Command. You can use Specops Reporting to view and create detailed reports for script feedback. The Server service manages feedback from the Client Side Extensions and stores it in the database. The Specops Command Server service also manages the communication between the database and the administration tools. The database contains feedback information for the script assignments.